That Which Never Was
by Quillian
Summary: One shot! A brief look into what could have been, but never was... ANIMORPHS 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FIC


**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _Animorphs_ or anything relating to it.

A/N: There are lots of AU fics before where those kids never became Animorphs, but Earth was still being secretly invaded by the Yeerks anyway. I don't know if this has been done before, but this is a fic where those kids never became Animorphs, _and_ Earth isn't in danger or anything like that.

**Ten years ago, in June 1996, the _Animorphs_ book series first came out. This was written to commemorate that.**

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"**_That Which Never Was,"_**

_By Quillian_

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_Dedicated to my good friend and awesome beta-reader **Alara Moonrunner**, who loves AU Animorphs fanfics._

_Also, I would like to take the time to thank **walkatdog**, whose AU fic "An Unorthodox History" was an inspiration for this._

* * *

_**Earth…**_

It was just another typical Friday night in a California suburb, as five kids – Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie and Tobias – all made their way home from the mall, doing whatever it was they had done.

It was a warm May night in 1996, and so school was almost out with each of them looking forward to it being over.

Figuring that no harm could come out of it, they all decided to walk through the construction site as a shortcut.

"We'd better walk home fast, or else my parents will give me a hard time over that again and Tom will gloat over it as he usually does whenever that happens," Jake commented.

"You know, Jake, I'm sure you and your brother really can't hate each other _that_ much," Cassie commented.

"Yeah, I suppose I should be grateful that we're both fine and healthy, and that nothing bad has happened to either of us… but still, that's hard when he keeps exerting his power as the older brother in the family…"

"Jake, trust me," Cassie said, taking his hand in hers. "If something happened to one of you, the other would feel bad over it. Maybe he acts the way he does because that's his way of dealing with things."

Jake didn't respond right away, but he did say a moment later, "If you say so, Cassie."

The other three all exchanged glances and rolled their eyes. They all knew that Jake and Cassie had something for each other.

"Trust me, Jake," Tobias said quietly yet suddenly, "Things could be a _lot_ worse than having an older brother tease you from time to time."

"Like what?" Jake asked in response.

"Like living with my relatives," Tobias said quietly.

A brief yet uneasy silence fell over the group.

"On the plus side, though," Tobias then continued, "My mother came out of her coma recently. She just needs to get back on her feet and stuff, then I'm sure she'll be able to take me in again."

"That's cool," Marco said encouragingly. "Wait… what's this about her being in a coma?"

"Years ago, when I was just a little kid," Tobias explained, "She apparently got hit by a truck or something. Hence, she was in a coma."

"Ahh," the other four said with understanding.

"Glad to hear about her getting better," Rachel said as a well-wisher, and the other three nodded in agreement.

"You guys remember a few years back when my mom went missing for a few days?" Marco asked the others.

"I remember this… something about a sailboat, right?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, she was taking out this new sailboat we got, and she went missing for a few days. A few people were afraid she'd drowned, but it turned out she was just stuck somewhere out from the coast."

Turning to Tobias, Marco then said, "Trust me, Tobias, I have some idea about what it's like when you get separated from your mom, one way or another. I'm just glad it all turned out well."

"Wow, that's very insightful of you, Marco," Cassie commented.

"Oh my… Cass, did you just use 'Marco' and 'insightful' in the same sentence together?" Rachel said with mock shock.

"Har-dee har har," Marco retorted.

"Come on, guys, we're almost out of here as it is," Jake said.

"Yeah… lucky us there were no ax murderers or anything, right?" Marco said with some humor and yet some seriousness at the same time.

Tobias shrugged. "Whatever."

"Well, what were you expecting, Tobias?" Marco asked. "Aliens coming out of the sky or something?"

Tobias shrugged. "Hey… you never know."

* * *

_**The Andalite home world…**_

Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul galloped across the grass of his family's scoop. Just another beautiful day on the Andalite home world…

Not far behind, his younger brother, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, was following him. Young Aximili was a unique case; for a few years, the Andalites had battled these annoying little beings who called themselves Helmacrons. They had actually managed to kill several Andalite warriors, and so married couples were allowed to have more offspring. Even though the war ended a few months before Aximili was even born (to the great shock of the Andalites, they had simply given up and had never been heard from again), Elfangor's parents were allowed to raise their new child along with the rest of their family.

Elfangor was galloping around just to clear his head; he had gotten into an argument a few days before with a fellow warrior, Arbron, who had been an _aristh_ in the Andalite military for about the same amount of time as Elfangor had years ago.

Elfangor had taken some taunting from Arbron about how he had some affections for a female Andalite named Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan, the daughter of the great Prince Seerow. She was some years older than him, but still unmarried. Elfangor figured maybe she just had yet to find the right male.

Besides, if Aximili continued to taunt him, he could just turn things back on his younger brother by mentioning a certain fair Andalite female named Estrid-Corril-Darrath.

Off in the distance was Prince Alloran, conversing with Elfangor's parents. Prince Alloran had been Elfangor's mentor for the most part in the Andalite military, and in his opinion, there was no better war-prince.

Deciding his head had now cleared enough, he went over to his parents and former mentor to engage in some conversation.

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_**The Yeerk home world…**_

Esplin Nine-Four-Double-Six was bored.

It was just another day in the life of a Yeerk.

Ever since he first infested a Gedd and first experienced the sense of sight, his desires and cravings for knowledge only grew.

He wondered about the mysteries of the universe, and what else was out there. He was something of an oddity among his fellow Yeerks.

Fortunately, there was one who understood him. Her name was Edriss Five-Six-Two.

Sometimes, he felt as though she was the only other Yeerk whom he could connect with. Whether it was trying to understand how the weather worked or what Aftran and Illim were up to now, she was always there for him to talk to, and vice versa.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he accidentally bumped into another Yeerk, Temrash One-One-Four. Even though Esplin did his best to sincerely apologize, Temrash just kept on going without a reply.

Yes, maybe Esplin better go see Edriss before he accidentally bumped into someone else…

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_**The Hork-Bajir home world…**_

Dak Hamee was strange.

He was not like other Hork-Bajir.

He somehow… seemed to know more than other Hork-Bajir. He also thought about things that other Hork-Bajir never thought about.

According to the elder Hork-Bajir, he was a seer.

Perhaps he would find his calling in life soon enough.

Maybe even a potential mate.

Sighing to himself, he went back to drawing images of trees…

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_**The Taxxon home world…**_

The Living Hive contemplated how it was just another day in the existence of the Taxxon race…

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_**Leera…**_

It was just another day on the watery world of Leera…

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_**Somewhere in the universe…**_

"So, want to play another game, Ellimist?"

The being addressed sighed and turned around to face Crayak.

"You remember our agreement, Crayak. Since I won our last game, there will be no more games unless I choose to initiate them. And if you even try to start something, I will stop you."

Crayak groaned. He gambled and lost in the shortest game he ever had with the Ellimist.

It was simple enough: He would throw a projectile at the planet which its current inhabitants now called Earth, and if it completely killed all life on the planet before the Ellimist could stop it, he won. Otherwise, the Ellimist won.

The projectile did indeed hit and cause a severe mass extinction, but some species survived. In fact, those species included mammals, some of whom grew and prospered without all those reptiles still around, and would later evolve into humans.

Technically, Crayak would have won if his projectile – he couldn't even remember now if it was technically an asteroid or a comet – had hit the planet _and_ killed all life on it. But since some species had survived, he lost the bet.

Curse it.

Ever since then, the Ellimist had played games with Crayak to entertain both of them – or maybe just to keep Crayak in check – but these games were done with things that weren't real before the Ellimist created them.

Crayak longed for games with real death and destruction again.

Well, one could only hope…

"So, Crayak, interested in another game?" the Ellimist said cheerfully.

"Fine," Crayak grumbled. "I still would have liked to see what would have happened, though, if I had caused an interplanetary war in this galaxy…"

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A/N: So, what did you think of this?

Note about the date: I figured since the _Animorphs_ book series first came out in June 1996, it would make sense.

Note about what's happening at the places other than Earth: Yes, I twisted the timelines a little. Or maybe all these different things are not happening all at the same time? I'll leave that to the reader to decide.

Note about Loren: I decided to take some liberties with this, so that Loren didn't lose her sight but could still recover and have custody of Tobias again.

Note about Esplin and Edriss: There's that Closet Fan community in the Animorphs fandom, which likes pairing the two Yeerk Vissers together. Personally, I don't know what to think about that (given how much they hated each other in canon), but since this AU, I figured, "_Well, why not?"_

Anyway, thanks once again for reading this! –_Quillian_


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